Blood bungle may have cost Mum her life
in 1972 my mother needed a blood transfusion during a standard operation for fibroids [ noncancerous growths in or around the womb]. There followed years of horrendous symptoms before she passed away on May 7, 1980.
i was 30 and my brother was 32 at that time. My family was devastated and i demanded an explanation from the coroner.
We were told that Mum had hepatitis C. Cryptogenic — ie, of unknown origin.
a few years ago there were rumbles about cheap, unchecked blood products being used during that era. now we have the head of the inquiry into contaminated blood supplies used in the Seventies and Eighties saying 30,000 people could have been infected during that time.
i feel very sad, obviously, about my own mother, but also worry for those left with terrible symptoms, knowing their future is looking very bleak. What a terrible mistake was made. GLYNIS MAIDMENT, Stithians, Cornwall. iT iS scandalous that impure blood could have been used for transfusions in the uK, with the matter allegedly kept under wraps. Hopefully the current inquiry will get to the root of what happened.
When i worked in Oman in the Eighties, locals were reluctant to donate, so to keep hospital blood banks adequately stocked, regular imports were bought from the u.S., which were then tested for fitness.
Phlebotomists confirmed that approximately 70 per cent of these imports failed and they had to be discarded.
To fill the gap, members of the public were encouraged to donate regularly. For each unit, a payment of the equivalent of £20 was made in cash.
These donations came mainly from overseas contractors like myself, and every unit was tested for suitability after payment had been made. Donors carried a hospital card showing previous donation visits, to prevent the system being abused.
But the main point was that whatever blood was used for transfusions, it was as safe as it possibly could be. RuSTY BLAGDEN, Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Bank on the Governor
BrEXiTEErS who say Bank of England governor Mark Carney is scaremongering over what will happen in the event of a no-deal Brexit are ill-informed.
Before taking up his role, Carney was an economist who warned of the banking crisis of 2008 two years before it occurred. He managed to steer Canada clear of some of the worse excesses of the crisis.
When Carney speaks, the world — and especially the Brexiteers — should sit up and listen. DAVID L PRYOR, Henfield, West Sussex.
Benefit of work?
i aM 69 and still working hard — up to 12 hours a day, sometimes five days a week — to feed and clothe myself and keep my dogs.
My business takes me into many homes, which is an eye- opener. The only people i see who are hard up are working couples. no holidays for them, or much else.
On the other hand, the ones on benefits can have at least two holidays a year; some go away every weekend.
One couple i know have just bought two caravans pitched on different sites, so they have a choice of where to stay. They have been given a disabled car worth